Monday, March 2, 2015

'The Bold and the Beautiful' Returns to the U.K. Via YouTube Channel

American daytime drama The Bold and the Beautiful is returning to the United Kingdom via a dedicated YouTube channel.

British viewers can now stream full episodes online for free. Content will be ad supported. Two episodes will become available every weekday at 11 a.m.

The new online initiative will begin with Episode 6720, which sees Thorsten Kaye take over the role of Ridge Forrester.

“We are excited to become the first American soap to air exclusively on YouTube in the U.K.,” said Bradley P. Bell, the Emmy Award-winning executive producer and head writer. “Unlike other online VOD services in the territory, YouTube has no pay wall and is used by nearly two-thirds of the U.K. population. We plan to release behind-the-scenes and other bonus content created especially for the U.K., and also take advantage of the community-building features of YouTube to provide a much richer experience than we could on traditional broadcast television.”

“Having an official destination in the U.K. where fans can watch high quality copies of the show helps solve the supply part of the piracy problem,” added Billion Dollar Boy's founder, Edward East. “Recently there has been nowhere for fans in the U.K. to watch The Bold and the Beautiful other than to break the law. We're very happy to be able to provide a solution to that—one that rewards viewers for avoiding illegal streaming sites. Not only will we publish full episodes of the series, clips and highlights, the channel is a home for fans, rich with bonus content and our diverse roster of social media influencers.”

Marcel Hoogenberk, Fintage House's executive VP of producer rights, commented, “Through our long term relationship with Bell-Phillip Television Productions we saw an opportunity to re-launch the series in key markets such as the U.K. In addition to YouTube we will actively target full copies of the show illegally uploaded to other video platforms.”